HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Mr. Speaker BYNUM called the House to order and announced prayer by Representative
Frazee, of Rush County.

The Clerk's journal of yesterday's proceedings was read, corrected and approved.

A message from the Senate by Principal Secretary Kelley announced the passage of a
resolution by the Senate for the appointment of a Joint Committee to wait upon the
Governor. This resolution was concurred in by the House, and the SPEAKER made the
Committee on the part of the House to consist of Representatives Shockney and Wilson, of
Marion.

Mr. HEFFREN offered a resolution requiring the secretary of State to furnish a copy of
the Revised Statues to each member of the House.

Mr. WRIGHT moved an amendment requiring each member to receipt for the copy
furnished.

The amendment was laid on the table and the resolution was adopted.

The SPEAKER announced the appointment of pages, to-wit: Wm. Moriarty, George Mitchell,
Daniel McCrossland and Richard Slater.

Mr, SHOCKNEY, from the Committee appointed to wait upon the Governor, reported that His
Excellency was now ready to deliver his biennial message to the Legislature. On his
further motion the Clerk was directed to invite the Senate to a joint Convention
instanter for the purpose of hearing said message, and a Committee of two was appointed
to conduct the Senate to the hall of the House.

Mr. COPELAND offered the following;

Resolved, By the House (the Senate concurring: therein) that we, the
Representatives of the State

of Indiana in
Legislature assembled, most sincerely tender the French Republic our heartfelt
sympathy in the loss of her distinguished and fearless statesman, and we join with
all liberty-loving States in expressing our high appreciation of the renowned
services and eminent ability of the great M. Leon Gambetta.

It was adopted.

The SPEAKER announced the Committee on Rules, authorized by the resolution of the
gentleman from Washington, adopted yesterday morning, to wit': Messrs. Heffren, Wilson
of Marion, Wright, Moody and Frazee.

The House then took a recess till after the Joint Convention.

The Senate appeared, preceded by the House Committee of escort. The Lieutenant
Governor, seated on the right of the Speaker, called the Convention to order, Governor
Porter then delivering his message as follows:

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : The circumstances under which
you assemble could not well be more satisfactory. The condition of the State has never
been more prosperous. During the year just ended the products of our fields have been
unusually abundant. Our manufacturing and mining industries have yielded good returns.
Within the last year 560 miles of railway nave been built within the State-a larger
number than in a any previous year. Of the ninety-two Counties in the State, there are
only four through which railroads do not pass, and three of these happily border on the
Ohio River. More than 225,000 acres of land have, during the year, been brought for the
first time into cultivation. The practice of underdraining soils charged , with an
excess of moisture has never been so energetically prosecuted. Along with it has come
increased productiveness and a lessening of all malarial diseases. Our common schools,
under the careful (superintendence of a diligent and capable officer, have increased n
usefulness and in public favor.

THE STATE DEBT.

The State is indebted as follows:

Five per cent. certificates, Stale stock

$14,469 99

Two and one half per cent. certificates, State Stock

$12,355 13

Five per cent. bonds, payable in New York, due December 1, 1998, but payable
at the pleasure of the State after April 1, 1884

$585,000 00

Twenty-four internal improvement bonds, past due

$24,000 00

Six 5 per cent. internal improvement bonds, due July 1, 1886, held by the
United States

$6,000 00

Total

$631,825 12

The accumulated interest upon the twenty-four old bonds above mentioned should be
added, but the precise amount can not now be stated.

The indebtedness of the State to the school fund is evidenced by five non-negotiable
bonds for the aggregate sum of $3,904,783 22, bearing 6 per cent interest; and the
indebtedness to Purdue University is evidenced by one bond for $340,000, bearing 5 per
cent. interest.

RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES

At the beginning of the fiscal year 1881, there was in the general fund of the
State Treasury a balance of

$504,894 94

There was received into the fund from all sources during the year

$1,408,025 08

Total

$1,912,920 02

The total disbursements from the fund during the fiscal year were

$1,634,691 80

Leaving a balance at the end of that year of

$278,228 22

The estimate of expenditure for the support of the State Government for 1881,
made in pursuance of law by the Auditor of State in 1879, amounted to the
aggregate sum of

$1,206,567 09

These estimates were insufficient with respect to several important items. The
expenditures on account of benevolent and penal institutions exceeded the
estimates by

$166,878 28

The expenses of the Legislature consequent upon the extra session, made
necessary by the revision of the laws, were in excess of the estimates in the sum
of

$26,626 58

The estimates did not include the following items of disbursement:

A transfer from the general fund to the State House fund, pursuant to an act
of the General Assembly

$100,000 00

A payment of the remaining war loan bonds

$139,000 00

A payment of an old internal improvement bond, principal and interest

$5,563 16

A payment of 2 1/2 per cent. certificate of State stock

$663 22

The salaries of five Commissioners appointed pursuant to an act of the General
Assembly, to aid the Supreme Court in bringing up its decisions in submitted
cases

$199 66

Expenses of Commissioner of Revised Statues

$500 00

Expenses relating to printing of Revised Statues

$516 69

Total

$44,384 33

Deducting from the total disbursement for the year 1881, which were as above
stated

$1,634,691 80

The unestimated amounts above specified, viz.

$443,384 33

A balance is left of

$1,191,307 47

This amount, it will be perceived, is considerably below the Auditor's
estimate for that year. The balance in the general fund at the beginning of the
fiscal year 1882 (November 1, 1881) was

$278,228 22

The total receipts to the fund during the fiscal year were

$1,269,401 64

Total amount of general fund during the fiscal year 1882

$1,538,629 86

Deduct disbursements during this year

$1,486,900 64

A balance is left at the end of the fiscal year 1882 of

$101,729 91

The estimates of expenditures for the support of the State Government for
1882, made by the Auditor of State in 1883, were

$1,174,470 20

The disbursements were in fact

$1,436,900 65

Being in excess of the estimates

$319,430 65

This excess is explained by the following disbursements

There was transferred from the general fund to the State House fund

$200,000 00

The expenditures on account of the benevolent and penal institutions exceeded
the estimates

$41,677 05

Printing the Revised Statues not estimated for

$21,716 77

Other expenses connected with the revision not estimated for

$2,127 95

Appropriation by the General Assembly to State University, Purdue University,
and the State Normal School, in excess of estimates

State Board of Agriculture, Regular annual appropriation and appropriation to
pay interest on its bonds

$10,700 00

Supreme Court Commissioners' salaries

$19,951 48

Department of Geology and Natural History

$4,510 30

Commissioner of Fisheries salary and expenses

$808 33

Mine Inspector's salary

$1,500 00

Appropriation for removing a bar in Calumet River, caused by the construction
of the State Ditch

$5,802 90

Expenditure under act of the General Assembly for the survey of Kankakee River
region

$3,930 34

Erroneous payments by County Treasurers

$956 45

Total

$325,295 42

Deducting from the disbursements for the year 1882, which were, as above
stated

$1,436,900 65

The total amounts of the items last mentioned for which no estimates were
made

$325,295 42

Leaves

$1,111,605 23

This amount, it will be perceived, falls considerably below the estimate for
1882.

The estimate required by law to be made by the Auditor of State to the General
Assembly at each biennial meeting, of the expenditures to be made from the Treasury
for the ensuing two fiscal years, can not, of course, anticipate all the expenditures
which may prove to be necessary. There are always in the case, even items included in
his estimate, appropriations which exceed the sums estimated, and there are always
appropriations for other proper and necessary objects which naturally could not be
foreseen when the Auditor's estimate was made. A chief purpose of the Auditor's
estimate is to enable the Legislature to perceive within what limits other
disbursements must be confined. In order to avoid the necessity of a higher rate of
taxation. When appropriations, however, have been made by the Legislature in excess of
sums estimated, or for objects not included within the estimates, it is proper that
they shall be brought to public attention, in order to undergo a fair public scrutiny.

It will be perceived that the receipts to the general fund from all sources during
the fiscal year 1881 and 1882 have fallen short of like receipts during the fiscal
year 1881. The receipts to the general fund in 1880 were $1,477,609 92, and in 1882
were only $1,260,401 64, falling off of $217,208 28 during the latter year. The cause
of this decrease is as follows:

The appraisement of all taxable real estate in this State was, prior to the passage
of the statute of 1881, required by law to be made once in five years. The last
appraisement was made in 1880. The next preceding one was in 1875, when the prices of
real estated were yet inflated. The appraisement of 1880 fell below that of 1875
$155,424,597. The assessed value of personal property in 1880 was also less than 1879
by $54,223,545. None of the taxes levied under this lower assessment were payable to
the State Treasurer until in May, 1881. At that time half of the State taxes for 1880
were required, by law, to be paid into the Treasury. The other half was not required
to be paid into the treasury until January, 1882. The taxes collected for the fiscal
year 1881 were one-half collected under the high valuation of real estate made in
1875, and one-half under the lower valuation of 1880. The taxes for the fiscal year
1882 were all collected under the lower valuation of 1880.

The taxes received into the General Fund of the State Treasury in 1881, fell short
of the taxes receive to 1880, for the reasons above stated, $42,175 33, and in 1882
fell short of the taxes received in 1880 $158,063 97.

For the last fiscal year the State Government has had to be conducted on less revenue
than for several years preceding.

Although, however, no new appraisement of the real estate will be made for purposes
of taxation until the year 1866. the great increase of personal property has begun to
be apparent of the tax lists, and by 1884 will probably have swollen the total value
of taxables to as high an amount as they have ever been in any recent period of the
State's history.

In addition to the revenues of the State will be apparent hereafter by the higher
appraisement of the State Board of Equalization, during the years 1881 and 18S2, of
the right of way and other property of Railway Companies The enlarged earnings of
these Companies were deemed to justify an average increase to the extent of 10 per
cent. in the valuation of property returned by them for taxation. n addition to this
increase there has been an increased assessment, through the vigilance of the Auditor
of Scale, by securing an assessment of buildings and improvements, such as machine
shops and other expensive structures, situated on what the Courts have interpreted to
be the "right of way" of these Companies, which, since 1872 had for the most part
escaped taxation. The revenue, however, from the taxation of such buildings and
improvements would be still further augmented, without an infliction of injustice, by
a requirement that they shall ba appraised by local officers in the Townships in which
they ara situate. The State Board of Equalization can never ascertain their value with
satisfactory accuracy.

Under a loose interpretation given to our statute concerning Voluntary Association,
the State's revenues from Insurance Companies are being diminished, and an injury is
being inflicted upon many communities by irresponsible and fraudulent Insurance
Companies, from other States and at home, which are engaged in the transaction of
business under the shelter of that enactment. These Companies have so far afflicted
the business of sound and responsible Companies, doing a fair and legitimate business,
and honestly paying their taxes, as seriously to diminish their earnings and to make
some of them contemplate a withdrawal of their agencies from the State. There is need
for a prompt adoption of such, measures as will put a stop to fraudulent and
speculative schemes which, sheltering themselves under the law of the State, inflict
great injury upon our citizens and bring reproach upon the State itself.

THE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS.

The average daily number of inmates in the Hospital for the Insane, during the last
fiscal year, was 1,070. The average cost per capita for maintenance, exclusive of
clothing, is stated to have been $184,97.

The number of pupils at the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, at
the end of the last fiscal year, was 344. The average daily attendance is not given in
the reports. The cost per capita is stated to have been $156.32,

The number of pupils enrolled at the Institute for the Education of the Blind, during
the fiscal year, was 126, The reports do not give the average dally attendance. The
cost per capita is stated to have been $216.67.

The number of pupils at the Soldiers' Orphans' Home and the Asylum for Feeble Minded
Children, institutions under one roof and one government, is stated in the
Superintendent's report to have been as follows: Soldiers' orphans present at the end
of the fiscal year, 137. Twenty other orphans are accounted for by the
Superintendent's statement that three have "eloped," and that seven teen have failed
to return after the summer vacation. Of feeble-minded children, eighty-one pupils are
reported as having
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fiscal year, and fourteen as discharged or away temporarily. The latter fourteen are
said, in the Trustees'report, not to have returned from the summer vacation. The cost
of maintenance is stated by the Superintendent to have been $125 per capita. The
average daily attendance is not specified.

The two last named institutions are not, with respect to the reports required of the
Trustees and Superintendent, governed by the statute relating to the other benevolent
institutions The statute does not define with the same particularity what the reports
shall contain. Nor does the statute relating to any of chem define the mode of
determining the cost per capita of maintain their inmates. An examination of the
reports of the several institutions will, I think, snow that a uniform rule of
ascertainment does not prevail, and that the mode of ascertainment In one or two of
them, quite unintentionally no doubt, is untrustworthy.

I recommend that a common requirement be adopted with respect to what shall be shown
in the reports of the Trustees and Superintendents of the several institutions, and
that the manner in which the cost per capita of maintains the in mates shall be
ascertained, shall be specifically defined by law.

Your attention is respectfully invited to the recommendations contained in the report
of the Trustees of the Hospital for the Insane, and which are strongly reinforced in
the able and instructive report of the Superintendent of that institution.

The capacity of the buildings erected by the State for the care of the insane,
spacious and imposing as they are, is sufficient for little more than half of the
State's insane. Those who are unable, for lack of room in the State's Hospital, to be
admitted as patients, suffer great and often cruel, neglect. They are confined in
uncomfortable and sometimes shocking quarters in Poor Houses, where they received
insufficient attention, or they are a burden upon poor kindred who are unable to make
adequate provision for them, and to whom they are a source of distressing anxiety. and
often of danger. Or provision for the insane is so inadequate that it falls quite
below the provision made for the same class of sufferers by neighboring States. The
mode suggested by the Superintendent for enlarging hospital accommodations is
commended to your earnest consideration.

The provision contained in our statues for ascertaining the number of insane, deaf
and dumb, blind and idiotic persons is imperfectly executed. Township Assessors are
charged with the duty of ascertaining, at the time of assessing personal property, the
number of such persons in their respective Townships; but this requirement is so
frequently neglected that these lists furnish very imperfect information. A specific
penalty should be prescribed for a neglect to perform this important duty.

The clause in the revised code which provides that a summons against an insane
person who has no guardian shall, where such person is confined in a Hospital, be
served upon the Superintendent, is regarded generally by the legal profession as not
being applicable to writs of summons issues in divorce cases, and against
administrators and guardians in the course of the settlement of estates. The
consequence is that inmates of the Insane Hospital are often greatly excited and their
recovery retarded by a personal service upon them of writs. This clause of the statute
should, it would seem, be made to include all writs of summons in civil proceedings.

I recommend that in the department for women in this Hospital it shall be required by
law that at least one of the physicians shall be a woman. There are now in this State
not a few women who bear diplomas from respectable Medical Colleges, and who are
qualified by professional attainmen's and experience to fill places as physicians in
public institutions with credit and usefulness. It would be peculiarly fit that their
services should be sought in cases of insanity among members of their own sex.

Three claims of considerable magnitude are pending against the State for work and
materials under contracts entered into the Provisional Board of the Insane Hospital,
it being the Board charged by law with the duty of constructing the building for the
department for women. Two of the claims have been refused. One has been allowed by a
compromise with the contractor, subject to a condition that the Legislature shall make
an appropriation for its payment, there being now no appropriation available for that
use. The facts relating to the case, briefly stated, are these: The Provisional Board
advertised for bids for the brick work of the building, the work to be executed and
paid for according to the plans and specifications of the State's Architect. The
specifications provided for a measurement of the work in the wall as the work
progressed, according to the rule of mason measurement of work in the wall, then in
use in Indianapolis. The bid of the claimant, John Martin, was accepted. Before,
however, a formal contract had been entered into with him, the State's Superintendent
of Construction, himself a member of the Board, desired that what were the rules of
mason measurement of brick in the wall at Indianapolis should be precisely defined in
the contract, requested the claimant to allow a clause to be inserted providing that
the measurement contemplated should be according to the printed rules of the master
builders and contractors for brick work in this city. The clause having been inserted,
the contract was reported to the Board and signed on behalf of the State by Governor
Hendricks, the President, and by every other member. Before the allowance to the
claimant was made, for which he will ask an appropriation, the work was carefully
measured by the State's architect and by two experts especially appointed by the Board
for that purpose, and their several measurements having agreed, the allowance was made
in conformity thereto.

It is perhaps due to Mr. Martin to state that in a report made to the Governor by
the Superintendent of Construction, when the work was nearly completed, he referred to
his work as having been prosecuted diligently, and in the most satisfactory manner,
and added that he felt it due to Mr. Martin to make a public record of the fact that
he had "from the beginning manifested a constant, active and earnest interest in his
work, with evident purpose, that it should be an honest job, creditable to the State
as well as to himself."

The capacity of the Institute for the Education of the Blind is now insufficient for
the accommodation of more than half of the blind youth, who, by law, are entitled to
the benefits of the Institution. The edifice was completed for the admission of blind
pupils more than thirty years ago, and has never been enlarged. Applicants are
constantly refused admission to the Institution on account of the want of rom.
Provision should be made by law for an enlargement of the building.

The Soldiers' Orphans' Home and Asylum for Feeble Minded Children should be regarded,
on account of the character of both classes of pupils, with particular favor. It has
had to struggle under the difficulty of narrow appropriations, and, during a party of
its history, with other difficulties hardly less serious. The instructors have,
however been diligent and devoted to duty, and the progress of pupils has been highly
satisfactory. The soldiers' orphans have been particularly proficient in their
studies, and the success attained in unfolding and strengthening the faculties of the
feeble minded children has been most
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A sufficient appropriation should be immediately made to provide additional securities
against fire. The means of escape in case of a sudden fire are wholly inadequate.
Outside stairways at the outer end of the main halls should be erected as soon as
possible; and, as the building is already furnished with gas pipe, a gas generator
should be erected so as to supply the building with a safe light for illumination, so
that the use of oil lamps may be discontinued.

PENAL AND REFORMATORY INSTITUTIONS.

Your attention is particularly invited to the report of the House of Refuge for
juvenile offenders. The average number ot inmates during the year ; was 350. The
expense of providing the equipments and instructors requisite for teaching the boys in
this institution the most useful manual occupations has been found too great, in the
opinion of past Legislatures, to warrant in making the necessary appropriation. A boy,
as the case now is, though instructed in the simpler braches of education, leaves the
Institution, in most cases, little better fitted to earn a livelihood, so far as
manual skill is concerned, than when he entered it. He is to apt, on that account, to
fall back into a life of crime. A system of industrial education has recently found
much favor, which, not professing to teach manual trades, gives boys a dexterity in
handicraft which maybe equally useful in many different trades. It instructs them in
the use of what, it has been said, are the "half dozen universal tools," viz : the
hammer, saw, plane, chisel, file and square. It is said that "in all the constructions
a certain number of typical forms are found, which, being more or less modified, adapt
themselves to special cases. These forms will also shape themselves into groups, each
to be worked out in a certain way and with special tools; and the student taught to
work out these forms each in the best way and with the tools best suited for the work
will be far advanced in the skill which will make him available and useful in
construction." A boy instructed in this way in a knowledge of forms and acquiring
aptness and dexterity in the use of tools, would leave the Institution with a feeling
of capability and self-confidence; could more readily obtain employment, and could
speedily qualify himself for almost any of the various lucrative trades. One teacher
it has been found can instruct thirty-two students at a time in this system, and boys
going through the exercises in separate classes at different times, the education can
be imparted with very little cost either in implements or materials. I invite your
attention to the schools that at Boston, St. Louis and elsewhere, have recently
entered upon this new system of industrial education for indigent boys, and to the
propriety of such legislation as will give it a fair trial in our House of Refuge.

Under the guise of committing children to this i institution as incorrigible, or as
juvenile offenders, children are often sent to it by the Courts who are simply poor,
or whose parents, desiring to get rid of the cost of care of rearing them, are willing
to make them a charge upon the State. Children merely poor should not be allowed to be
thrown into association with juvenile offenders, and the sternest; vigilance should be
practice to prevent negligent parents from shifting upon the State the responsibility
of maintaining and rearing their offspring. Besides, it is not possible to ascertain
to what extent the class of boys intended to be received into this Institution are
reformed, if children not criminal or incorrigible are admitted. Sufficient provisions
should promptly be made by law against the abuse of admiting boys not belonging to the
classes of criminal and incorrigible.

The recommendation of the Superintendent that boys released from the Institution
upon tickets of leave shall be placed by law under the surveillance of the Township
Trustees in the Counties to which they are sent, seems to be a most judicious one. A
knowledge by boys thus released that their conduct was watched by persona of
character, for an honest purpose of preserving their morals, would help to restrain
them from returning to crime. The additional advantage would also be gained that if
they should fall again into a profligate life they could promptly be returned to the
Institution for further discipline.

The management of the Reformatory for Women and Girls deserves unqualified
commendation. A desire to keep expenditures within the limits of appropriations and to
administer the Institution with proper economy, has been constantly evident. The
proportion of inmates who, after their return to their homes, lead correct lives is
greater than the most sanguine might reasonably have expected.

There is reason for regret that in selecting a site for the Reformatory more regard
was not had to convenient facilities for sewerage. The only means for conveying the
sewerage from the building is by the current of a rivulet that, after passing through
the grounds, runs through a populous part of Indianapolis. With all the care that can
be exercised, and an exhaustion of all means of purification, complaints are made of
offensive odors. The stream, after passing through the grounds of the Reformatory,
runs in part through and in part near the edge of the United States Arsenal grounds,
and persons there employed have induced the authorities at Washington to cause a suit
to be instituted in the United States Circuit Court at Indianapolis to enjoin the
Trustees from allowing the sewage to be conveyed through said stream.

Nothing but a belief that the present Legislature will, by a proper law, provide for
building a sewer by which the waste from the Reformatory will be carried off by other
means than said stream has, it is believed, prevented an allowance of an injunction.
Provision by law for the construction of a proper sewer is imperatively necessary.

An act was passed by the last General Assembly providing for the construction of
such a sewer at the joint expense of the State and city of Indianapolis; but, as the
consent of the city to bear its proportion of the outlay was requisite before the work
could be undertaken, the work fell through, the city not having given the needed
consent. As the sewer will be of material benefit to the city, it is just that it
should bear a due proportion of the expense.

The necessity for a walled enclosure for the purpose of allowing a space for needful
exercise for women sentenced for crimes whom it would be unsafe to permit to be at
large upon open grounds is evident, and an appropriation of the comparatively small
amount asked for by the managers would seem to be most proper.

The State's Prisons at Jeffersonville and Michigan City are more nearly
self-supporting than they have been for several years.

The average number of prisoners at the former Prison during the past year was 564.
The average number of prisoners at the Prison of Michigan City was 621.

The specific appropriation bill which failed at the last session of the General
Assembly, on account of its consideration having been deferred to too late a period of
the session, contained an appropriation of $5,000 for building special wards at the
Prison of Michigan City, for the use of insane prisoners, and for a transfer to that
Prison of all insane prisoners in the Prison at Jeffersonville. I earnestly urge the
appropriation of a proper sum of money for the building of cells at the former Prison
for insane prisoners, which shall be remote from the cells of other convicts. The
insane convicts are at present, for want oi any other provision, kept in cells so near
those of
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night disturb and frequently destroy the rest of these hardworked men, whose condition
at the end of each day's labor requires that they should have undisturbed repose. It
is cruel and discreditable to require prisoners deprived night after night
successively of needful sleep, to perform the laborious, daily tasks demanded of them
by the practice of the Prisons. Insane persons require also a very different attention
from that given to the sane, and from that which necessarily they are now accustomed
to receive.

The abbreviation of the terms of sentences allowed by statute to prisoners for good
conduct is believed not to be sufficiently liberal. No incentive to good behavior is
found to be so strong with them as a knowledge that such behavior will shorten the
term of imprisonment. I earnestly recommend legislation giving to prisoners whose
conduct has been continually exemplary, a larger credit for good conduct on their
sentences. The effect of such legislation would be followed, I have no doubt, by a
great improvement in discipline, and a lessening of expense in the conduct of the
Prisons.

Complaint is made by the city authorities of Michigan City that the sewage of the
Prison at that city, which is conveyed into a small stream called Fish Lake Creek,
occasions a nuisance injurious to the health of the inhabitants. The growth of the
city has recently been rapid, and its limits now extend beyond the point at which this
refuse is conveyed into the stream. The necessity for the construction of a sewer by
the State seems to be urgent.

EDUCATION.

The number of persons in the State of School age, viz., between the age of six and
twenty-one years, is 709,424. The number admitted to the schools was, in 1882,
498,792. The average daily attendance of pupils last year was 30,513. The number of
school teachers is 13,259. The number of school houses in the State is 9,556, of which
forty-eight are log, eighty-three are stone, 2,481 are brick, and 6,944 are frame.

The amount of Public Fund is $9,138,408.31. The addition made to it annually taking
as a basis an average of the pest five years, exceeds $54,000. This sum does not
include the large sum-about $260,000 a year-received from particular licenses and
other sources, and applied each year to tuition.

The amount of tuition money derived from interest on the school funds in 1882 was
$650,173.41. The whole amount received from State and local tuition taxes was
$2,059,616.44. The proportion of the entire expense of tuition paid from taxes, State
and local, was 75 per cent.

It will thus be seen that, ample as our school fund is, three-fourths of the expenses
of tuition are derived from public taxes. The fact that these taxes are paid without
complaint, is the highest evidence of the esteem in which the Public School system is
held.

The report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is replete with
interesting facts and suggestions.

The State Normal School is shown, by the report of the Trustees and Superintendent,
to be in a highly flourishing condition. The average number of students during last
year was 302. The need for a moderate appropriation for the purchase of apparatus for
the instruction in the sciences is urgent.

The important suggestions contained in the reports of the Trustees of the State
University and of the Trustees and Presdent of Purdue University will properly engage
your most considerate attention.

STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

The State Board of Agriculture has shown commendable zeal during the past year in
the discharge of its official duties. It is required by law to hold a meeting in the
month of January of every year, together with the delegates from the several County
Societies, for the purpose of deliberation and consultation respecting the "wants,
prospect, and condition of agriculture throughout the State." At this meeting reports
from the County Societies, required to be made annually, with regard to the condition
of agriculture in the several Counties, are delivered, pursuant to law, to the
President of the State Board. It was doubtless the expectation of the framers of the
statute that these County reports would furnish the chief basis for the deliberations
and consultations of the Board relating to the condition and prospects of agriculture
in the State. If filed a proper time before the January meeting they doubtless would
but not baing delivered until after the meeting has begun, they can not be examined
during the meeting with any care, and therefore form no basis for consultation or
deliberation. The consequence is that they are, as a general rule, hastily prepared,
contained little varied or specific information, and fall to present with fullness or
vividness the condition of agriculture in the Counties.

If the reports were required to be delivered to the Secretary of the State Board by
the 1st of December of each year, and it were made his duty to present to the Board at
its January meeting a copious abstract of their contents, and to arrange and index
them so that the several subjects could be readily referred to they would soon form a
basis for the deliberations and discussions of the Board, and their quality would be
greatly improved. It would be good policy for the State to offer a reasonable premium
annually for the best County report. This would excite emulation, and in the end would
make these reports of much value to our farmers.

Some of the professors of Purdue University-the State's Agricultural College-devote
the greater part of every year to studies and experiments in agriculture. If these
particular professors were made members of the State Board, they would impart much
freshness and interest to its discussions, and give to it increased energy and spirit.
I recommend that two members of the Faculty of Purdue University be made ex officio
members of the Board.

MINES AND MINERS.

The number of coal mines in the State is 150. The number of miners employed in them
is 5,100. The production exceeds 2,000,000 tons a year.

The law in relation to coal mines, through carefully framed, is believed to need some
amendment in order to give proper security to the lives of miners. The State Inspector
is a practical miner of long experience, and thoroughly acquainted with the needs of
miners. Hempen ropes for hoisting are, in his opinion, unsafe in cases of fire.
Besides, no ordinary inspection can detect with certainty secret defects which often
render them unreliable. Steel wire ropes should be required to be substituted in their
place. Every mine, in the Inspector's opinion, should have at least two outlets. Where
a furnace is employed for the purposes of ventilation, and one of the outlets i used
for the escape of smoke and steam, the outlet so used is useless as a means of retreat
in case of sudden danger. A mine in this condition has practically but one outlet. An
additional one should, in such cases, be required.

It is made the duty of the Mine Inspector to examine all scales used in any coal mine
for the purpose of weighing coal taken out of the mine, Miners are usually paid by the
ton for their work. Justice to them and the preservation of harmony between them and
their employers require that correct scales shall be used. The State, however, not
having provided the Inspector with sealed weights, he has no accurate means of
determining satisfactorily whether scales are correct. The
page: 22[View Page 22]Switch to Image ModeCLOSE Page 22 State should provide him with a set of sealed weights.

COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES.

The General Assembly, at its special session in 1881, enacted a law providing for an
appointment by the Governor of a Commissioner of Fisheries Commissioners had
previously been appointed, under provisions of law, in thirty-one States of the Union
and two of the Territories. I appointed to the office a gentleman who had given much
study to the habits of fishes and to their propagation, and had been specially
successful in the cultivation of the carp. I invite your attention to the suggestions
contained in his report. The law of 1881 seems to have been intended rather to set on
foot an intelligent investigation into the best means of restoring our many fishing
streams, and of preventing a renewal of the reprehensible practices by which they have
been impoverished, than to provide an efficient plan for supplying these streams, or
to prevent a wanton or thoughtless depopulation of them. The business of fishing, if
our fishes were undisturbed in the spawning season would soon become a profitable
industry, and would give employment to many citizens. A most wholesome and nutricious
food would soon be made abundant. The temperature of our streams and lakes, and their
purity, adapt them to a great variety of fishes. The black bass, which multiply so
rapidly when their spawning grounds are undisturbed, that artificial propagation is
never necessary, is native to our streams. The carp can be successfully and
inexpensively cultivated. It has been described by Professor Baird, United States Fish
Commission- er, as being emphatically a farmer's fish. On account of requiring little
more care than his swine and poultry. If Indiana has lagged somewhere behind a
majority of her sister States in providing for restocking her nearly numberless
streams and the beautiful lakes which abound near her northern border, shall she not
make up for time neglected by a prompt adoption of the best methods, by the passage of
wise protective laws, and by a resolute spirit on the part of her inhabitants to
secure their enforcement ?

THE DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS.

The Department of Statistics, separated by the last General Assembly from the
Department of Geology, has been conducted with zeal and energy, and has collected
statistics on a variety of subjects of general popular interest. Its monthly crop
reports have been received with much favor by farmers and dealers in produce. It has,
during the pass year. organized a corps of efficient weather observers, who have
reported monthly to the head of the Department, their daily observations. These
reports, having been transmitted regularly to the office of the Signal Service at
Washington, have been commended for their fullness and accuracy, and they are
contributing to the stock of knowledge which will gradually enable skillful observers
to make longer and more accurate forecasts of the weather. The corps has been equipped
with a small outfit of intruments by the United States Signal Service, but has served
without any compensation.

The report of the Commissioner is so replete with information of general value that
it will, no doubt, be examined by you with interest, and aid you in some parts of the
work of legislation.

DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY.

The report of the State Geologist has attracted much attention among scientists on
account of its bringing to light new organic remains found among the rocks of the
State, and on account of surface discoveries of a novel and important character. His
tests of Indiana building stone, showing the superior quality thereof with respect to
the important features of endurance and elasticity, have opened new markets for the
stone and much increased the sale thereof. Beds of gravel have also been found by him,
at places where the existence of such deposits had not before been suspected, which
are furnishing material for improved roads. The State Geological Cabinet has been
increased during the past year by an addition, with trifling expense, of more than
40,000 interesting and valuable specimens. New coal deposits have also been discovered
and public attention directed to them.

STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.

This Board was established by an act of the last General Assembly. Twenty-six States
had previously established like Boards. The work of the Board has been prosecuted with
zeal. Its report, and the report of its executive officer, give a full statement of
the work done since it entered upon the discharge of its duties.

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S REPORT.

The large collections made by the Attorney General of moneys received by various
officers, which were payable to the State, but had been withheld, and the result of
important suits in which the State has been interested, as well as the condition of
pending suits, are shown by his report. The litigation involving the title to the
valuable tract, of land near Indianapolis, purchased 'many years since as a sue for
the House of Refuge, but not used as such, consisting of 100' acres, has been decided
in favor of the State, and the State has quiet possession of the land.

PUBLIC PRINTING.

By a reference to the report of the Secretary of State, it will be seen that a
deficiency has existed for several years in the appropriations for public printing.
The work is done for a fair price, but the cost of what necessarily must be done
exceeds somewhat the sums appropriated. In this connection I beg to call your
attention to the fact that the law should define with more precision what printing
shall be paid for out of the general appropriation.

THE STATE MILITIA.

Attention is called with pleasure to the energetic and successful efforts of the
Adjutant General to increase the numbers and improve the discipline of our active
militia. The encampment held at Indianapolis last summer, at which some of the most
prominent militia companies of the country engaged in a competition for prizes with
our own companies, and with one another, drew to it a vast number of interested
spectators, gave a renewed impulse to the martial spirit, and has been productive of
excellent results. I take this occasion to render acknowledgements to the gentlemen
composing my staff for their arduous and disinterested services on that occasion.
Since the encampment broke up, many new companies have been formed, and a disposition
to elevate the standard of attainment in all military exercises has been manifest. The
recommendations contained in the Adjutant General's report are commended to your
careful consideration. I particularly urge upon you the importance of passing a law,
in conformity to his recommendation, to provide for copying into record books, to be
procured for that purpose, the muster-in ar.d muster-out rolls of the Indiana
soldiers. These contain an account of the service of each soldier. When this record
shall have been made, a frequent handling of original papers will be unnecessary. and
the papers will thus be preserved from injury. It will be a reproach to the State if a
performance of this duty shall be longer neglected. There is a necessity also that you
shall provide, without delay, a fire-proof vault for the purpose of securing these
papers against the hazards of fire. Their destruction would do incalculable injustice
to persons having the strongest Claims to grateful recognition by the State.

REVISED STATUTES.

In conformity to a requirement contained in the act of 1881, concerning the
publication of the new revised statutes, I appointed the gentlemen composing the Board
of Revision, Commissioners to prepare these statutes for publication and to
Superintend the publication thereof. The last delivery of the copies required by law
to be filed in the Clerks' offices of the several Counties was made in July, 1882.

The act of 1881 provided that the Commissioners should hold their positions until the
first day of November of that year, and that the Commissioners and the Governor
should, on the final adjournment of the General Assembly, advertise for bids for the
printing and delivery of the statutes. A clause required the Commissioners to annotate
the contents of the volume, so as to show, by proper reference, the time when all
statutes in eluded in the volume went into force.

A literal compliance with the terms of the aet Of 1881, with respect, to the time for
advertising for bids, was found to be impossible. The work assigned to the
Commissioners could not, by the utmost labor they could bestow, be completed within
the time prescribed, and no intelligent bid or bid at all favorable to the State could
have been expected had bids been solicited when the work was in the incomplete
condition it was at the time of the adjournment of the Legislature. Besides, the
volume containing the session arts of 1881 was so large, on account of the bills
brought before the Legislature by the Board for the revision of laws, that the
printing could not be completed until a period much later than had been usual in the
printing of session acts Hence the annotation of the time when the acts passed at the
session of 1881 took effect could not be made as early as the Legislature had
contemplated. When the time fixed for the expiration of the offices of the
Commissioners arrived they, therefore, from public motives and at much personal
inconvenience, continued in the performance of their labor, without any provision for
further compensation, until the work contemplated by law had been completed and the
statutes were ready for delivery.

The act of 1881 prescribed with particularity what kind of type and in what style the
Revised Statutes should be printed. The contract was let in conformity to the terms of
the act. Had the volume, however, been prepared in that manner it would have been most
inconvenient and unsightly. Fortunately the contractor was willing to print the volume
in a much better type, and to bind it in a much more attractive style, at the price
which had been named in the contract and it was accordingly prepared in this manner,
with the consent of the Commissioners and to the general satisfaction of the legal
profession. It is a volume which the Commissioners have truly said is "a credit to the
printers' art."

The cost of the printing, binding and delivery was $22,233 76, being $2 766.24 less
than the appropriation for the purpose.

The Commissioners in their contract took the precaution to provide that, as soon as
the number of volumes prescribed by law had been printed, the stereotype plates
employed in printing it, should without additional charge, be turned over to the
State.

No provision having been made by law for securing a copyright, the Commissioners took
out a copyright in their own names, which they promptly assigned to the State. In
compliance with a request from them, I recommend the passage of an act formally
accepting the assignment.

The stereotype plates can occasionally be used to advantage by the State, and could
also be used by private parties, in printing separately for circulation, particular
acts contained in the volume. I recommend that provision be made by law, for a
temporary use of the plates by private parties, for a proper consideration, at the
discretion of the Board of Public Printing.

For the laborious work performed by the Commissioners after the end of their term of
office, I have no doubt it will be the pleasure of the General Assembly to provide a
proper compensation;,

THE NEW STATE HOUSE.

The progress of the work upon the new State House since the General Assembly last
met has, on the whole, been satisfactory. While in 1881 the work did not proceed quite
as actively as had been anticipated, it has during the year just closed been
prosecuted as diligently as the most sanguine could well have hoped. Under the careful
and vigilant supervision of the Commissioners, it is believed that it has been
thoroughly well executed, and will bear the sternest tests. It is a subject of great
regret that the execution of the remainder of the work is liable to be retarded by a
dissatisfaction on the part of the contractors, arising from losses said by them to
have been necessarily incurred while they have been engaged in a diligent and faithful
performance of their contract. The cost of materials and the prices of labor have
risen, as they claim, altogether above what they expected, or what might reasonably
have been expected, when they entered upon their undertaking. If they should decline
to proceed further under existing circumstances, grave duty will be devolved upon you
in determining what curse will be the wisest to secure an early and satisfactory
execution of the unfinished part of the work.

Provision was made in the contract that changes directed by the Commissioners, with
the consent of the contractors, during the progress of the work, should not operate to
discharge the liability of the sureties upon the contractors' band, and in every
instance where changes have been made they have been made with the consent of the
contractors, and in conformity to an opinion of the Attorney General that the change
would not release the sureties.

THE KANKAKEE MARSH.

At the last session of the General Assembly an ; act was passed empowering the
Governor to appoint a Civil Engineer to make a survey of the wet and swamp lands of
the Kaukakee region in this State, and to take levels, and make careful estimates,
with a view of ascertaining the cheap est and most practicable outlets and routes, by
which to effect successfully a drainage of that vast body of fertile lands. An
appropriation of $5,000 was made to enable the Engineer to prosecute the work, and the
Governor was empowered at his discretion, to direct surveys to be made of other wet
lands for a like purpose.

The vast region of the Kaukakee is shown to be one of the most fertile regions of the
State, and, by the excavation of a nearly straight channel to conduct the water of the
river, a sufficient fall can be obtained to effect a thorough damage. The ease with
which the channel can be constructed is most gratifying, and the cost of effecting a
drainage, however considerable it may appear, bears no sort ot proportion to the
additional value which drainage will impart to the lands. These lands, on account of
their proximity to Chicago, are covered by a network of leading lines of railroads.
The estimates of the Engineer, who is of a cautious and
page: 24[View Page 24]Switch to Image ModeCLOSE Page 24 conservative temper may be regarded as being certainly
above, rather than below, what would be the actual cost of the work required to be
done.

It was hoped that the rocky bottom of the bed of the river, which begins in Illinois,
two miles west of our State line, would not at that point oppose any obstacle to a
thorough drainage, but the Engineer believes that the water, flowing through its new
channel, holding particles of earth in suspension, would be likely to deposit a
sediment at that point and make a bar which might render lands adjacent to the river
liable to overflow. He thinks that for a distance of half the length of the
contemplated channel the work of drainage can safely be prosecuted without delay, but
that the rest of the work should await an acquisition of the right to remove for a
specified distance the rocky obstruction referred to. A belief has been expressed,
however, by some hydraulic engineers that until the new channel shall practically
cease to make the stream muddy any tendency to create a bar at the point mentioned
might probably be prevented by one of the small vessels needed, at any rate, to be
maintained in the river for some time after the completion of the work, being fitted
with simple mechanical appliances, enabling it to stir the sediment and keep it in
suspension until it can pass off in the current which flows freely over the rocky
bottom of the river at that point.

With respect to the manner in which this important understaking shall be prosecuted,
there will no doubt be found a diversity of opinion. The law of 1869, which intended
to provide a practical scheme for the the accomplishment of the work, was repealed by
the General Assembly soon after its enactment. It was found that the effect of the law
would be to subject to sale for a non-payment of assessments the lands of most of the
small proprietors. Such proprietors can not pay any considerable assessments until an
increase of crops, occasioned by the reclamation of their lands, provides them with
the means of payment. Some method must be devised, if they are to be protected by
which the work may go on and there may be a reasonable delay in the collection of the
assessments. With respect to the portion of these lands included n the grant of swamp
lands made to the State by the United States, the State engaged, when it sold them,
that the proceeds of the sales should be applied toward draining them. It must be
confessed that this engagement was imperfectly kept. The more sanguine proprietors
have hoped that, in consideration of this face, the State would at its own expense
undertake to drain these lands. It does not, however, seem to me likely that the
Legislature would be willing to charge the State with the expense of so considerable
an undertaking. But the fact that the State so imperfectly kept its engagement should
certainly incline it to a course of liberal legislation. It is believed that it would
be competent for the State itself to advance money, retaining a lien on the lands for
a return thereon; but if this should be deemed inexpedient it might empower the
Counties to be benfited by the drainage to guarantee bonds to be issued in payment for
the work, retaining a lean on lands benefited in analogy to the provision respecting
aid to Gravel Road Companies. The subject is one of so great importance that it should
engage your early and most earnest attention.

FEES AND SALARIES.

For many years complaints have been made in the more populous Counties that the fees
and salaries of officers were too large for the services perforated, it has also been
asserted that the means to which there are often strong temptations to resort, for
obtaining nominations for offices so lucrative, and for securing success at the polls,
have a corrupting effect upon elections. Before the adoption of the Constitutional
amendments of 1881, the Legislature was deprived of the power of curing this supposed
evil. In that year an amendment was passed which has removed the difficulty. This
amendment was submitted to the electors of the State, and prevailed by a majority of
more than 90,000 votes. A session of the Legislature has intervened since the
amendment was adopted, but no act has been passed regulating the compensation of
officers in the manner contemplated. Every officer should be adequately paid for his
services, but it is due to the people that no greater sum shall be taken from them,in
the way of fees and salaries, than is necessary to pay to the officer a fair
compensation. Officers frequently, however, relinquish regular occupation to obtain
these places, under an expectation that the rate of fees prevailing when they were
elected will be substantially maintained. It might be just, therefore, to postpone the
operation of the regulation act for a reasonable time after its passage. A bill
property regulating fees and salaries will require much thoughtful consideration, and
should engage your attention at a very early period of the session.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

The first section of the sixteenth article of the State Constitution is in the
following language: "Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed
in either branch of the General Assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a
majority of the members elected to each of the two Houses, such proposed amendments
shall, with the yeas and nays thereon, be entered on their journals and referred to
the General Assembly to be chosen at the next general election; and if, in the General
Assembly so next chosen, such proposed amendment or amendment shall be agreed to by a
majority of all the members elected to each House, then it shall be the duty of the
General Assembly to submit such amendment or amendments to the electors of the State;
and if a majority of the said electors shall ratify the same, such amendment or
amendments shall become a part of this Constitution."

At the special session of the General Assembly in 1881, several joint resolutions
were introduced, which were passed by a vote of a majority of the members elected to
each of the two Houses, proposing certain amendments to the Constitution. The titles
of the several resolutions, and their numbers, were entered on the journals of the two
Houses, together with the yeas and nays on the passage. An enrolled copy of each
resolution containing the amendment set out at full length, was signed by the
President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, transmitted
to the Governor, and filed by him, in conformity to law, in the office of the
Secretary of State. In the canvass for the election of Senators and Representatives to
the present General Assembly, the point, it is believed, was not raised that proper
steps had not been taken in the last General Assembly to enable the present one to
consider the amendments. Since the election, however, the point has been raised
through the public press that the proposed amendments are not in a condition to be
considered by the present General Assembly, because it is said they were not entered
at length in the journals of the two Houses of the last General Assembly. Neither of
the points raised has been settled in this State by any judicial decision. An
executive construction was given, however, to one of them in a message of Governor
Baker, in the case of what is known as the Wabash and Erie Canal amendment. That
amendment was not entered at length upon the journal of either of the two Houses. The
resolution by which the amendment was proposed was referred to in the journal of each
House by its title merely, and the enrolled copy thereof was signed by the presiding
officer of each House, and was duly filed in the office of the Secretary of State.
Governor
page: 25[View Page 25]Switch to Image ModeCLOSE Page 25 Baker maintained that this was a
sufficient compliance with the terms of the Constitution.

The Constitution requires, in case of bills, that upon the passage thereof the vote
shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered upon the journals of the two Houses. In a
case where the point was urged that an act was not in force because no entry of the
yeas and nays on its passage appeared in the journals, the Supreme Court held that the
signatures of the presiding officers were conclusive evidence of its passage.

The Constitution is silent respecting the manner in which a proposed amendment shall
be referred from the first to the second General Assembly. The main object, no doubt,
is to get it before the Second Assembly. If the genuine resolution passed comes before
the Second Assembly, and is acted upon, the object of a reference would seem to have
been attained, and the purpose of the framers of that instrument to have been carried
out. There was, I believe, no formal reference of the amendments adopted in 1881 by
the First to the Second General Assembly.

In the canvass last autumn it is said that some of the Senators and Representatives
who were chosen at the November election publicly pledged themselves that, if they
were chosen, they would vote at the present session to submit the amendments to the el
rotors at a special election. Without saying anything respecting the merits of the
several amendments, I can frankly express a belief that pledges upon which electors
were induced to vote for gentlemen holding seats in either of the two Houses of the
Assembly, will not be disregarded except for overwhelming reasons.

CONCLUSION.

The importance of the subjects which will engage your attention during the session,
and the limited time allowed to you by the Constitution for their consideration, will
require you to enter early and vigorously upon your work. It will give me pleasure to
supply you with such facilities for the performance of your duties as can be furnished
by the Executive Department. And I trust that, under the guidance of Divine
Providence, error may be avoided and the best interests of the people subserved.

ALBERT G. PORTER.

Executive Department, Jan. 5,1883.

Then came a recess till 2 p.m.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

Mr. WILEY offered the following:

Wheres s, By an act of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, approved
March 13,1875, the Governor, Auditor and Secretary of State were made ex-officio
Board of Commissioners of the Public Printing and Building; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Principal and Assistant Clerk cf this House and all other
employes who may act for the House, shall make requisitions upon the
Commissioner of the Public Printing and Building for all stationery ordered or
needed for the use of the House, and any stationery procured elsewhere is
unauthorized and hereby forbidden.

Mr. HEFFREN desired to know the object of the resolution.

Mr. WILEY: The object of the resolution is to secure stationery for the House in the
cheapest possible manner.

The resolution was rejected.

Mr. GIBSON moved that 1,000 copies of the Governor's message be printed and
distributed among the members of the House.

Mr HEFFREN offered the following amendment: "Provided that the part of the said
message delivered by the Governor orally shall be inserted in its proper place."

The amendment was agreed to.

On motion, the resolution was further amended by reducing the number of copies from
1,000 to 500.

The resolution as amended was adopted.

On motion by Mr. McMULLEN the Governor's message was referred to a Select Committee
of Five, to be appointed by the Speaker, who made said Committee to consist of Messrs.
McMullen, Gibson, Kester, Shockney and Copeland.